Harry Potter and the Master's Drumming
by ItCouldAllBeForNothingTommorow
Summary: Master of Death Harry Potter is stranded in the/a Doctor Who universe. There he meets The Master, a Time Lord with a drumming in his head.


Author's note:  
This is an idea my muse came up with and in an effort to get back in the swing of I'm indulging it. After reading LazyFae's The True Master I got an itch to write a fix-it fic where Harry met the Master.

Fair warning I haven't actually seen most of the old episodes and a good deal of the ones dealing with the Master/Missy in the reboot so their may be things I'm missing but I hope not anything that's too big of a deal.

With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy.

**Harry Potter and the Master's Drumming**

There are many more ways to get rid of an enemy rather than killing them. However as Master of Death Harry Potter could not die so his advisories had little choice but to think of alternatives. If they wanted him out of the way in any permeant fashion they had to get clever. Shoving him through the Veil wasn't the most spectacular of solutions but it did get the job done.

Whether it was because of his status or the rumors just had it wrong all along, Harry didn't die going through the veil. Instead after traveling through a space that was decidedly other for a time he landed in a reality startlingly different and yet so very similar to his own. It was like looking at a loved ones reflection in a fun house mirror. The same but not. Familiar but not. Just close enough to make the differences disturbing since this wasn't the face you loved.

From what he could make out from Harry's drunken ramblings one of the fellow patrons at the bar felt it prudent to introduce Harry to the concept of the uncanny valley. Together they watched a compilation of videos on the man's while while the bartender fed Harry a supply of water instead of the gin he'd been pounding back previously.

Still, despite the effort to sober up some when leaving the bar Harry wouldn't have been able to pass a field sobriety test. Not the most responsible thing for someone with his level of power to do, especially in a world that didn't know about magic but did regularly have to deal with aliens who never seemed to be up to anything good. Sloshed as he was Harry's magic was responding to his needs and desires rather than good common sense. As he stumbled towards the wall a cushioning charm blasted out ahead of him to lessen the impact. Once he had his footing again, try as he might Harry couldn't completely remove it in the state he was in. Crossing his fingers he hoped no one would noticed the charm until he could come back. Unnoticed by him his magic reached out to put a small compulsion in place to keep people from investigating the bricks.

Staggering away he summoned a marker from his supplies. He wrote out on his hand a reminder to come back in the morning to remove the charm properly... But as he was thinking about how much he would prefer to laze about and not do that, his magic vanished the ink from his skin the moment he wasn't looking, removing the problem from sight and mind.

Before Harry became Master of Death he'd had some to drink but never enough to have any real effect. It wasn't until after the Battle of Hogwarts when he'd unknowingly assumed the mantle that he drank in excess for the first time. He couldn't remember anything about that night as he'd accidentally obliviated himself due to his magic responding to his desire not to remember how much he'd embarrassed himself and scared the others. But not remembering didn't spare him having to hear about it.

At first people found it funny. Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Concured out matched by a bit of drink. When the first bits of accidental magic started cropping up they didn't really notice. Once they did it was more impressive than anything else so they encouraged Harry to drink more. Than, he'd started doing the impossible. He started doing things wandlessly that others could only dream of with no effort and no control, so no restraint. It was rightfully scary. They were right to be scared. Learning about it had scared Harry into abstaining from anything more than the occasional butter beer or glass of wine ever since. Well, until he was really desperate.

Being banished to a new reality made a man desperate. Stranded on a new earth where despite the many incredible things he'd discovered there was a depressing lack of magic to be found his fear wasn't enough to hold him back. He was all on his own. There was no one to help get him home. He tried everything he knew of to get back and none of it worked. So properly desperate he turned to alcohol. His last resort was to hope in his inebriated state his magic would find a way to fulfill his desire to go home.

It hadn't.

With his last hope taken away and already a good ways down into his cups Harry had been tempted to go on drinking. The idea of drowning his problems was so very appealing... but he couldn't. He wouldn't. His fear of hurting someone was too great to overcome without hope of some good coming out of it. So water and youtube compilations it was until he felt he was up to heading out. Sadly, being drunk he wasn't the best person to judge that really hence all the accident magic.

Using a lamppost for support Harry was debating whether he should hoof it back to his hotel or flag down a cap when a noise attracted his attention. It was a noise that was out of place in the soundscape of the London Night. Drawn to the sound out of concern and hope Harry wondered off, his magic guiding him to the source. But there was nothing there. Sound but no physical source for it. Until there was.

Phasing in and out, becoming more solid with every shift, a police phone box materialized in front of Harry. Curious he stood back, leaning against a wall, waiting to see what would happen. Only, once the box settled nothing happened. Harry waited a few minutes but still nothing at all.

With his usual level of recklessness he moved forward.

Knocking on the door he called out with concern, "Hello? Is anyone in there? Are you alright?"

He couldn't hear any response but as he rested his ear again the wood his magic worked to answer his curiosity. Two heartbeats. Harry could hear two heartbeats. But it was more than just his hearing that his magic enhanced. Harry could feel distress from two sources. One felt almost humanoid. The other? Decidedly not.

Pulling away completely Harry yanked his hands back.

"So sorry," he apologized to the sentient object/being in front of him. "I didn't mean anything inappropriate. I didn't realize I was touching without permission."

He felt the consciousness of the object become aware of his awareness of its sentience. Hesitantly it reached out to him but with all the protections he had on his mind her- Wait her? Yes, Harry was getting a very firm sense he was dealing with something that identified as female- and for as remarkable as she was she just couldn't find Harry. Her metaphorical antenna were waving about unable to make any contact with his mind.

As best he could in the state he was in Harry peeled back his protections to allow her to see him and connect with him. He felt her latch on and immediately try to nose around in his head. It made him feel less guilty about his own presumptuousness.

Normally Harry would have given someone a rebuking for taking advantage of what he offered to try and gain access to his secrets but she, a timeship, who preferred to be known as a Tardis wasn't hiding her feelings at all. She was being completely open with him about what she was and her situation. She was upset. She had been stolen. She was far away from her preferred thief/pilot/companion with a threat within her walls. A mad man she knew would keep her and hurt her if the whim took him. She needed to know what kind of person Harry was. She needed to know if he could help and more importantly if he could be trusted to help without nasty complications.

"Shhh. Its alright," Harry comforted her. With a gentle hand he stroked over the door in front of him with magic leaking out of his skin and sinking into the Tardis to offer her strength, comfort, and raw energy she could convert for her uses.

"I'll help you don't you worry." Harry chuckled. Opening his mind to let the Tardis see who he was fully he explained even as he showed her, "I've always had a helping people thing. No matter what sort they are."

Able to feel the Tardis' hope and curiosity over just what he was to leak energy like he did, he waited passively as she eagerly looked through his memories, his heart, and soul for conformation about what kind of person he was. When she discovered he was from another universe, a universe with magic which could allow a person to break the laws of reality it set her off with even greater curiosity. Unfortunately her mind was so much... More than his. The curiosity and inquiries she was giving off were just too much for him. His mind became overwhelmed with the output it was getting from her.

Harry staggered back while his magic moved protectively by closing some of the connection to the Tardis.

Bringing both hands up to hold his head he complained, "Ow."

Realizing what she'd done the Tardis sent a sense of genuine regret and apology but Harry waved it off.

"It's alright," he promised. Blindly he gave her door two magic filled pats to show she was forgiven.

Despite her anxiety the Tardis waited patiently for Harry to recover. Her stress mainly stemmed from not knowing what was going to happen. Normally she had access to knowledge of most all time and space with blind spots being very rare. However for many hours now she'd been mostly blind to what could happen. While she was grateful to have lucked out to land near someone as willing and capable to help as Harry was, his involvement blinded her further. He was something that wasn't meant to be. Harry assumed this was because he was from somewhere else but then the Tardis thought of another person, another man, human, Jack, a companion and how once he'd been clear to her but then he'd died and come back, becoming something that felt rather like Harry when she tried view events affected by him.

The idea there might be someone like him had Harry's heart in his throat.

Shaking his head he tried to set it aside. It was something for later as according to the Tardis this Jack who had died and now couldn't stay dead was a very very long ways away. At the end of the universe actually; an idea that both intimidated and intrigued Harry in equal measure. The Tardis could take him there. She didn't like the place but as her chosen thief/pilot/companion was there so that was where she wanted to be.

Only there was the matter of the man inside who had stolen her away. The dangerous man who'd locked her doors taking away her right to control who came and who went. The mad man who was currently only unconscious for how long she couldn't say, resting against her controls which he had the knowledge to use to override her will. Harry frowned. He'd like to think he wouldn't approve controlling another being even if he didn't have personal experience with it but as he did have personal experience with it he had a particular hate of mind control or manipulating free will and anything like it.

Pulling the elder wand from the holster on his arm Harry pointed it at the Tardis' lock. With a clear image in his mind, provided by her of exact all the components keeping her doors closed Harry implored, "Alohmora."

With the Tardis' consent and support his magic set to work. Things were always much easier with consent. The work was so much more efficient when magic didn't have to fight against someone's will. That was why a willing sacrifice would always so much more powerful than when it was forced.

In a blink of an eye Harry heard the lock click open.

With his wand at the ready he opened the door just far enough to slip inside where, as the Tardis had shown it to be, there was a man propped up against the command console in the center of the room, looking dead to the world.

Because Harry had opened himself up to allow the connection to the Tardis he could feel some of the man as well. At first there was only a peek at his emotions and motivation but then, then there was the pounding. Something like a beat, a pulse, a presence calling out. Harry didn't know what it was so he didn't have a name for it but once he was aware of the whatever it was he couldn't help but to focus in on it, his magic opening the way to aid him. Once he did it seemed to focus in on him, growing more incessant, more consuming.

"Oh Merlin," he said reaching up to cover his ears. He spoke words that weren't his own. Words plucked from the head of this mad man/thief/Time Lord/Master left Harry's lips, "The drumming. Oh Merlin the drumming."

Harry was so caught up with what was going on in his head he didn't notice that the Master had regained consciousness and was moving about, moving to stand right in front of Harry while taking him in with manic fascination. The Tardis tried to warn him but Harry couldn't hear her over the drumming.

Reaching up his hands hovered on either side of Harry's head, cupped almost like he wanted to help cover his ears but just wouldn't follow through with it.

"You can hear it," the man asked.

"What is it," Harry asked but he was ignored.

Instead of answering the Master asked, "What's your name? Who are you?"

"Harry. Harry Potter."

The Master frowned, pulling away from him with a look of disgust. "Not Time Lord then- Oh no. Don't tell me."

He moved away to look at a screen on the Tardis' console.

"Human," he concluded based on whatever it was he saw. His disgusted took the form of a proper sneer which would have done Lucius Malfoy proud. "Just a human. Then how is it you got in? How is it you can hear the drumming?"

He made to move. To do what Harry didn't know but feeling what was in this man's head and knowing the Tardis' fear Harry. Wasn't. Having. It. His magic surged from his body to wrap the Master up. He wasn't completely restrained but he was held as effectively as he might have been in a straitjacket while glued down to where he stood.

The Masters face contorted with indignation.

"You dare," he demanded while looking down at himself.

"Human doesn't mean helpless, nor harmless. Now hush," Harry requested. With the drumming still doing his head in he didn't want to deal with noise and talking and confrontation. Responding to his desire his magic reached out to take away the Master's ability to speak.

As he made to respond but found he could not the Master began to struggle in earnest with anger giving way to fear and panic. Feeling it Harry opened his eyes to look at the man. He found him staring back at Harry. His eyes were wide with child like fear.

Harry winced. Slowly he placed himself at the Master's side.

"Sorry. Had a bit to drink tonight. I'm not fully in control."

And that scared the Master even worse, just like it had scared Harry's friends. Because even for a Time Lord like the Master the idea of power like Harry's being used against him, a power he didn't understand, and a power not controlled was terrifying.

Unfortunately as it was accidental and not a proper incantation there was no easy spell Harry could do to undo what was done. With his fingers crossed Harry hoped he had better luck giving the Master back his voice than he had removing the cushioning charm.

Placing his hand on the man's throat Harry was careful to place them in such away that would be as nonthreatening as possible. With his eyes shut he very carefully went about reversing what he'd inadvertently done. It was hard because he had been drinking. It was harder still for the drumming in his head. But Harry managed it. Somehow he managed to give the Master back his voice while still keeping the man restrained.

With a sigh Harry finished. Feeling completely wrung out he rest his head down on the Master's shoulder without thinking about it.

"What are you," the Master whispered.

And Harry could have answered with words, but god the pounding in his head. He didn't know if the talking, the noise made things worse, but he logic wasn't quite in effect here. He just knew he didn't want the talking and the noise. So instead of answering with words, he answered in the same way he'd let the Tardis know he could be trusted. Harry Potter, human, wizard, Gryffindor, Master of Death let The Master, madman, Time Lord, a possible threat see him for exactly who he is. His past. His mind. His heart. His soul.

The Master took it all in eagerly, absorbing everything.

"Fascinating," he declared.

"Shush," Harry complained.

Chuckling the Master moved to kiss the top of Harry's head.

"Not a child," Harry complained.

"Hush," the Master rebuked back at him even as in their minds he took in just how far from a child's innocence Harry was, seeing for himself all the traumas and experiences and responsibilities Harry had endured. He found Voldemort and Dumbledore particularly fascinating, he found the Dursley's disgusting, and he found the connections Harry had to his friends and supporters intriguing.

Harry could see in the Master's head that he was thinking of the Doctor, the Tardis' Doctor and his many human companions. Harry snorted as he realized the path the Master's thoughts were headed. The Master was thinking that Harry was just fascinating enough to make a worthy companion to him, that he might enjoy having a companion of his own to share in the experience of his future plans which were still forming in his head.

"I'm not letting you take over the world," Harry said with conviction. But the Master wasn't phased.

"Hush," he said even as his plans and ideas ran away with him.

Responding to Harry's desire to be able to make him understand Harry's magic pushed in on the Master even as it finally worked to better guard their connection. It constructed a wall akin to one way glass which allowed Harry to continue looking in the Master's mind while giving him privacy and a reprieve from the drumming which became muffled by the barrier.

He could feel the Master's displease/distress/anger/fear at Harry's mind cutting off from his. He liked Harry in his mind. He liked the connection. He liked that he wasn't the only one to suffer. He didn't want to be the only one to hear the drums.

"Stop that," he hissed speaking all at once of Harry's shielding, the intimidating pressure of his magic, and the fact that he was pulling back from the Master to stand on his own.

Staring into the mad Time Lord's eyes Harry told him resolutely. "You are not the only Master here."

And of all the things the Master could have done, he pouted. Like a child. So like a child. No where near innocent but the damage to his mind made him vulnerable in a way which drew on Harry's compassion all the same.

Sighing Harry reached up to rub at the Master's head which he knew hurt from the drumming far worse than Harry's was hurting him. What he picked up on was nothing compared to how the presence resonated through the Master's mind.

"What are we going to do with you," Harry wondered.

With the drumming now muffled Harry could again hear the Tardis and she had some very clear and creative ideas.

Harry snorted. He could feel the Master falling unconscious again. Gently he lowered him to the floor.

Addressing the Tardis' ideas Harry pointed out, "I feel like that would all take awhile and wasn't there somewhere you wanted to be?" He projected the idea of the end of the universe where her Doctor was waiting.

Yes, the Tardis did want to go get her Doctor, but she didn't want the Master on board when she did. She didn't want to bring that man to her Doctor.

Harry frowned. "But the thing is, for all my tricks I'm not a Doctor, and I really think he could use a Doctor. One that understands Time Lords, and science, and might stand a chance of figuring out what this is?"

The Tardis' agreed but that didn't mean she wanted her Doctor to be the one.

"He's been alone hasn't he," Harry said reflecting back on what he'd seen of the Doctor from both the Tardis and the Master. "He's been alone and grieving for so long."

He could feel the Tardis begrudgingly being swayed by the argument she could sense he was leading into.

With the Master safely sleeping Harry rose to his feet. He looked at the Tardis' controls feeling overwhelmed.

"I don't suppose you have autopilot?"

...

The Doctor stared as the only other Time Lord ran off with his Tardis abandoning him, Jack, and Martha to the end of the universe. Already his mind had worked out how they would escape but he was paralyzed the moment by his emotions.

Only before he could get moving again there she was. His Tardis was back. Her doors were already opening to him.

"Come on," he called to Jack and Martha because the unknown awaiting them held better odds than the unknown trying to push in.

Rushing forward the Doctor had his sonic screwdriver at the ready. As he took up guard by the door he moved it back and forth between the two men in the room. One stood dressed with in typical early 2000s earth fashion with his hands in the air. The other lay on the floor wearing Yana's clothes. The answer as to which was the Master would seem obvious but The Doctor wasn't interested in being tricked by what seemed obvious.

"You must be the Doctor," the standing man said in what was not the voice the Master had used earlier. Still, while it had only seemed like a moment to the Doctor since he had gone in the time he was away the Master could have already regenerated numerous times.

Behind him the Doctor heard Jack and Martha making it inside and putting the lock back into place.

Moving away from the control console the standing man kept his hands in the air.

Slowly the Doctor moved forward with Jack falling behind with him pointed at the man on the floor while the Doctor focused on the other.

Surprising him the man's attention seemed to focus on Jack and stay there.

"Hi, you must be Captain Jack?"

For once the good Captain didn't flirt in his introductions. "And you are?"

"Harry. Harry Potter. According to the Tardis we've got a lot in common."

"You spoke with the Tardis," the Doctor asked even as Jack questioned, "And what's that."

"Yes," the man, Harry, answered the Doctor and then to Jack said, "Well according to her the pair of us are the only two she knows of who can't stay dead."

Outside the Futurekind were banging on the Tardis' door. Feeling her desire to be any where and when but there, Harry shivered while the Doctor got into action to see them off.

Through their connection to her the Doctor was able to feel Harry, not as intimately as the Master had but well enough to get a sense of him. Eying him speculatively the Doctor got them moving back through time while leaving the talking to Jack.

"You can't die," Jack asked disbelieving.

"Oh no, I can die," Harry assured. "I just can't stay dead after."

As the Tardis lurked into motion they all swayed but Harry staggered. Gesturing to the near by chair he asked, "Do you mind if I," and without waiting for an answer he moved. He sighed as he settled himself down.

"Merlin, Morgana, and Mordred I really never should drink," he complained. And those were names the Doctor and Jack had both never heard used as expliciatives before and between the pair of them they'd thought they heard them all.

"Um anyway. Yes, dying," Harry said with his head back and his eyes staying shut. "Yeah, I can die. Granted I generally put up a pretty good fight against it cause its not like its fun. Not really sure when the first time it happened was. I survived something that should have killed me as a baby and since no one is sure of the details as to how I sometimes worry I was like this even than. But, the first time I died and was aware of it I was 17. Got hit with a killing curse, and that's meant to be guaranteed death. Got hit, woke up in a place that was all glowing and limbo like, talked to a dead man, than woke up again alive. By the time I got to getting any checks done there was no sign anything had happened."

Given that the feeling the Doctor got off of Harry was similar to that which he got off of Jack he was inclined believe him. The scans he'd been doing showed that he appeared to be human while the man on the floor read as decidedly Time Lord and was identified by the Tardis as the Master.

With that settled the Doctor was working on going through the Tardis' records to figure out what had happened since the Master locked him out, who Harry was, and how he'd ended up on board.

Harry for his part appeared to be so caught up in his telling that he'd rather forgotten the situation.

"For awhile me and everyone else just sort of wrote it off. We figured I hadn't really died. That it was something else. Some protection that kept me from dying. We had a lot of theories about it... but then later. We couldn't deny all the things that came later. Poisoned, heart stopped, nothing they could do but all on my own I got back up. Stabbed but still going. And half a dozen other deaths that just couldn't stick. Crushed under a building was the worse," Harry finished with a frown.

"Ever been decapitated," Jack asked.

Frowning harder Harry lifted his head to look at him. "No. Thankfully. Have you?"

"Thankfully, also no. Though sometimes I've ended as so many little pieces that I really don't understand how they all got back together again."

Harry shivered.

On the floor the Master groaned and all the room tensed but Harry. Getting up with a grunt he made his way over to the Time Lord under the watchful eyes of the room and threatening aim of a gun and a sonic screwdriver. He didn't let it deter him though from lowering himself down on to the grated floor to sit besides the Master's head.

Reaching out he ran his fingers through his hair. In the path of where their skin touched an energy the Doctor wasn't familiar with traveled from Harry into the Master.

Humming the Master settled more fully into sleep but Harry kept up his petting.

"There is this... drumming, in his head," Harry explained to the Doctor. "It's enough to drive a person mad. And the pain? I know pain and even for me it was almost too much to bare."

The Doctor's expression was considering, but he didn't move forward to investigate the Master as he would have done with anyone else.

"I know you two are... Well honestly I don't really understand what you are. It's a lot to unpack and I was prioritizing other things but, I got- get the impression there isn't a lot of trust there. And he did steal your Tardis. So I'd understand if you're not eager to help him, but he needs help and seeing as the pair of you are the last Time Lords." Harry trailed off while tilting his head from side to side.

"What is he to you," the Doctor asked knowing just how good the Master was at corrupting and manipulating people into serving him.

"I could say he isn't really anything, though he could be something? He certainly wants us to be something. Something like Master and pet if I was reading it right? I just don't really know. Only met him something like," Harry picked up his arm to make a show like he was looking at a watch even though he wasn't wearing one. "I don't know an hour ago."

Up on the Tardis' display came an image of him meeting the Master and a convent counter that revealed just how long it had been.

Harry gestured at it. "Make that only forty minutes, and for most of that he was passed out while the Tardis talked me through how to get her back to you."

The Doctor stared, unmoved and unmoving, for some seconds more while Harry, Jack, and Martha awaited his verdict. Then slowly he came forward. Pulling his stethoscope from his inner pocket he crouched down next to the Master.

"This drumming. What can you tell me?"


End file.
